


What Could Have Been, and What Might Be

by DawnTheRithmatist



Category: Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity (Video Game)
Genre: Age of calamity is the everyone lives AU so naturally I made an everyone dies AU, I know the timeline doesn't make sense but if LoZ can do it why can't I, My first fic, The champions are in this too but only briefly, This is my AU of an AU, everyone is ooc, please be kind
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:40:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27863961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DawnTheRithmatist/pseuds/DawnTheRithmatist
Summary: When heroes are called from the future, they come from a world where the calamity is defeated 100 years late. But one champion comes from a different future- one where it was never defeated at all.Paya arrives to help Impa to escape from Hyrule Castle when the calamity has just arrived, but she comes from a very different world than that of Breath of the WIld. In her time, Zelda and Link both perished at Fort Hateno, leaving the world without any traces of Hylia to fight against Ganon, and the Calamity lays waste to Hyrule unchecked. Impa's Hyrule can still be saved, but what about Paya's?The everyone dies AU embedded in the everyone lives AU Nintendo gave us. This is just for fun and it really won't focus on any relationships. I think. Probably. There is no plan.
Relationships: Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 14





	1. Chapter 1

It was funny. The very act of being summoned as a hero was enough to prove her unworthy of the title.

She was no hero; her world had a distinct lack of those. Maybe once, she could have been, but now… no. So as far as she could tell, she was unimportant to her world, to the point that she could be brought here without issue. Her fight was over. While this world could be saved, hers had not been. They fought for their final victory, and she had her final failure.

It had been strange to be back in Hyrule castle; in her world, it was uninhabitable for anyone other than Ganon. She had arrived through a rift between worlds after seeing Impa- her mother, only from years ago- struggling against hordes of monsters. Against a white maned Lynel. She had hesitated only briefly before throwing herself into the fight. Past, alternate universe Impa was good, but Paya was better.

So they had fought, forgoing questions of how, and who, and why to focus on getting out of the castle alive. On getting Zelda and Link out of the castle alive. That had been another shock. Link and Zelda were here, next to her, fighting with her. She had to get them out.

It took the better part of an hour to reach the castle gates, with no sign of King Rhoam. Well, she could live with that. From what she had heard, the man had always been a bit of a stubborn ass, and unless that was different in this world too, Zelda would make a far better ruler. Besides, protecting Link and Zelda was far more important than protecting the fool king. It was more important than anything.

She had been stunned to find that the king agreed with her when he appeared to take down a guardian with one clean swipe, ordering Link to get Zelda to safety. Link had nodded and dragged the princess away as she fought to go back and save her father. Impa had tried to rush after the king in their stead, determined to save him too, as a second and third guardian appeared to take down the sovereign. 

She had held her mother back, dragging her away much as Link had done to Zelda. “You can’t save him,” she had said. 

“Yes I can, just let me go!” Impaf had replied in a voice like steel. “I’m ready to go. They’re close together, too- I can have them in pieces in two moves.”

“I know you can,” she had hissed back in an equally steely voice. “I could probably do it in one. But that would leave Link and Zelda vulnerable, and we must protect them first. They’re more important.”

That had taken some of the fight out of Impa- enough for the two of them to get out of the gates and catch up to the princess and her silent knight. 

“Your name?” Impa asked as they ran.

She hesitated. “Paya.”

This drew a strange look from Impa. Clearly, she recognized the name. Thankfully, the curiosity didn’t seem to be enough to stop their mad dash. Not yet, at least. She was sure the questions would come later, when they weren’t running for their lives.

They made it to Hyrule field before they stopped, having caught up to the others. There was Link, barely breaking a sweat and looking at Zelda like she was his whole world. There was Zelda, somehow not noticing Link’s look and blaming herself for everything. Well, it seemed some things hadn’t changed. Her mother had described their world’s Link and Zelda as more or less the same.

But then, some things had changed. Everything about this scene was familiar to her from her mother’s stories, except for one thing: a small, egg shaped guardian no taller than her knees. Instinctively, she reached for her blade- too many had been killed by guardians on her watch for her to trust this little one- but was stopped by Impa. “It’s alright,” she said. “That one is with us. It’s okay.”

That wasn’t nearly enough to assure her, but Impa was watching her every move with sharp eyes, and she seemed ready to defend the guardian egg, so she slowly removed her hand from the weapon at her side. She would keep an eye on it. For now.

Impa shifted her mistrusting gaze away from her, eyes softening as they fell on the distraught princess. “I need to help her, right now, but don’t think for a second you’re not getting questioned. You appeared out of nowhere, and your name is classically Sheikah. Despite that, I don’t recognize you- and I know every member of the tribe. I don’t trust you for a minute, even if you did help us.”

She nodded, and Impa walked up to talk to the sobbing princess. The guardian egg was… singing? It was closer to the princess than she would have liked, but she did not reach for her weapon.

Oddly Impa’s distrust of her sudden appearance and aid was more comforting than disquieting. Impa wouldn’t trust a stranger, even if they had appeared to cut a path out of a calamity stricken castle and help protect her charges.Any trust that the guardian egg had earned was bound to be well deserved.

As the others talked, she took in her surroundings. Hyrule field looked so different here. The castle still glowed with the red light of the calamity, and there was a faint smell of smoke in the air but- the air was breathable. The cloth mask tied around her face was, for the first time in decades, unneeded. There was actual grass under her feet, rather than swaths of scorched earth. In her world, grass hadn’t grown on Hyrule Field in ages. Her world had been burned and bloodied until it was dead. This world still lived.

It might still meet that same fate, her thoughts whispered. From what she could tell, the calamity had only just struck. At this point, her world had still lived too.

It was at that point that the cry of Vah Medoh pierced the air. Everyone looked up.

The giant mechanical bird was flying over the Tabathana Plains, a haze of malice surrounding its wings. It’s cannons were quiet, but even from here, she could tell they were active and primed to fire. Cold fear gripped her heart.

If that thing starts flying east…

“Can we… still do this?” she heard Zelda ask, and the words cut through her distraction and straight to her heart. The champions were in danger, likely dead. The king was gone and the divine beasts were turning against them. Paya knew how this story ended. She knew the smokey air and scorched earth, the refugees and the monsters, the terror and the uncertainty. Paya had lived through the end product of the calamity. Zelda hadn’t. Zelda still hoped that they could be saved. Was that really better? For them to go into this blindly, rather than being faced with the results of failing?

They might not fail, an inner voice whispered. This time could be different.

Yes, it could be different. It was already different. The egg guardian was new; Paya was new. Things were ever so slightly different, but would it be enough to change the ending?

“All is not lost. We can still do something!” Impa said. It was as though she had read Paya’s mind and was fighting all of her uncertainties. Her mother had fierce determination painted across her face. To Paya, it looked more like naivety. “Come on,” she said, pulling the princess to her feet.

The calamity had just arrived. They had gotten out; Link and Zelda were alive. As long as that was still the case, there was still hope for this world. She would do everything in her power to keep them, and that hope, alive.

“The champions might still be alive in their divine beasts,” Zelda said. Her voice lacked its usual command; she was shaken, and for that no one could blame her. But there was that quiet strength she always carried, allowing her to move forward and consider the big picture, even when she was in pain. “If we split up, we might be able to provide aid each of them before it is too late.”

“Split up?” She exclaimed before she could stop herself. She had no authority here. But someone had to say it, to point out the flaw. “Princess, we barely made it out of the palace with all four of us working together. Splitting up leaves you and Link vulnerable, and we need you both alive.”

Paya knew the words were a mistake as she watched Zelda’s expression harden. “Yes, it is dangerous, but I challenge you to find anything about the Calamity that isn’t. I thank you for your help in escaping the castle, but I refuse to be anything less than capable. I will not stand by helplessly and- and just watch when my friends are in danger.” Ouch. Those words hurt, even if the princess couldn’t possibly realize why. “I will defend Hyrule… in any way I can.”


	2. A Quick Note

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An update :)

Thank you so much for the comments and kudos!!! I opened this back up and was stunned that anyone had actually looked at this, even if there weren't a lot of you. My thought was to make this into a breath of the wild AU that focused on Paya and the possibility of what Hyrule could become if Link and Zelda hadn't survived at Fort Hateno. About a day after posting this, I realized I wanted to make this into something different from how it started. I started to continue what I had, and then realized that what I really wanted to make had little to do with Age of Calamity, and a lot more to do with this weird other version of Breath of the Wild. I'm going to leave this up, and please anyone feel free to jump on this and continue it (and let me know if you do!), but I won't be continuing this version. I'm making a new one with the altered premise. 

Thanks again friends :) <3


End file.
